Beaminster Festival: Gala Concert

Experience the magic of Vienna in its heyday with classic pieces played by Emma Johnson and Friends highlighted by fascinating insights into the history and art of the era. Vienna in the 19th century was an extraordinary city, a hotbed of musical creativity that nurtured Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Lehar and Strauss. Using contemporary art as illustration, Emma introduces a programme of wonderful well-known music encapsulating the apparently harmless mania for wine, women and song but which contrasts with the seeds of social discontent that would trigger the First World War.

PROGRAMME
Beethoven:  Adagio and Allegro con brio from the Septet Op.20
Mozart: Larghetto from K581
Schubert: Scherzo from the Octet D803
Brahms: Hungarian Dances No.1 and 3 (1879)
Johann Strauss I: Radetzky March
Johann Strauss II:  Waltzes and Polka
Mozart Eine: Kleine Nachtmusik
Franz Lehar: Merry Widow Waltz
Johann Strauss II:  Waltzes and Polka

Such an enjoyment of music making with technically superb, charismatic playing……Emma Johnson’s Strauss arrangements are as frothy as a glass of bubbly!                Gramophone Magazine
www.emmajohnson.co.uk